Are you suddenly hungry all the time? This is the surprising reason why, how to stop the
Like clockwork, the cold weather sets in and you feel hungrier. Suddenly, a salad isn’t appealing. What you really want is warm, comforting dishes, such as lasagne, mashed potato and gooey chocolate puds.
This is not about changing tastes – as the days get shorter and the temperature drops, our bodies are programmed to shift our eating habits.
Partly it’s because they have to work a bit harder to stay warm.
Shivering may be an obvious sign of being cold, but even a mild chill can trigger a quieter process called thermogenesis, where we burn a little extra energy to maintain our core body temperature.
That small increase in energy use can also make us feel a touch hungrier as the body looks to replace what it’s used.
People talk about putting on the winter pounds as a result of these kind of comfort foods – that’s true for some, but not all.
For instance, research shows that we do generally eat a little more and move a little less when the weather turns.
However, those changes can be surprisingly small – and the small amount of weight gain generally shifts in the summer months.
During cold, wintry months what you really want is warm, comforting dishes, such as lasagne, mashed potato and gooey chocolate puddings
When researchers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in the US looked at the effect of seasonal changes on people’s eating and exercise, they ate only about 86 more calories a day in autumn compared with spring.
Their weight shifted by only around half a kilo back and forth over the year, peaking in winter, before dropping again by the summer, reported the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2006. In other words, it wasn’t permanent.
Yet some studies show that people do gain a little weight in the winter that doesn’t then later shift.
For instance, research published in JAMA Network Open in 2023 showed that adults gained the most weight during winter.
While the overall weight gain was just 0.26 per cent (around 218g) of body weight, this could potentially accumulate year on year. The real change, however, is that cold weather may alter the foods we crave.
In a study last year, 23 men spent 24 hours in rooms of different temperatures: a cold room (16c), a comfortable room (24c), or a warm room (32c).
Scientists measured how much they ate, how hungry they felt and how appealing different foods seemed to them.
Dietitian Dr Emily Leeming says don’t deny yourself the occasional treat of a baked gooey chocolate pudding. Instead, try having whatever food you’re craving with some fruit, vegetables – or a handful of nuts and seeds
While the temperature didn’t change how much the men ate – their total calorie intake and feelings of hunger remained about the same – the men in the cold room were drawn to images of richer, higher-fat foods, such as cheese, fries or peanuts.
In the heat, they preferred lighter, lower-fat foods such as boiled potatoes, popcorn and fruit salad, it was reported in the British Journal of Nutrition.
The researchers said this response may be rooted in our evolutionary past.
For most of human history, winter signalled food scarcity. Like other animals that build fat reserves for the cold months, our ancestors may have developed instincts to seek out energy-dense foods when temperatures dropped – instincts that may still influence us today.
Even just watching short clips of wintry scenes makes people more drawn to high-calorie foods, according to a 2022 study in the journal Food Quality and Preference.
In five experiments with more than 800 participants, those shown winter imagery rated energy-dense foods as more appealing than those who viewed summer scenes.
The effect was stronger in women – again, this may reflect ancient survival mechanisms, the researchers suggested: women may have evolved a greater sensitivity to cues of food scarcity, given the higher energy demands of pregnancy and childcare.
Although the study didn’t measure actual eating behaviour, the findings hint that our winter cravings could be rooted in the same biology that once helped us survive leaner times.
And trying to ignore our cravings can backfire. When we cut out the foods we love, our brains don’t quietly forget about it.
In a key study on this, published in 2005 in the International Journal of Eating Disorders, researchers found that people who try to tightly control what they eat often end up craving that food even more.
And when they do allow themselves to have it again, they may eat more than they would have in the first place.
So don’t deny yourself the occasional treat of a baked gooey chocolate pudding.
Instead, try having whatever food you’re craving with some fruit, vegetables – or a handful of nuts and seeds.
Make sure to sit down and pay attention as you eat, too.
When you slow down and tune in, your brain has time to register pleasure and fullness, which makes it easier to stop when you’ve had enough.